Sunday -Drive it Day

Sunday was FBHVC National Drive It Day when classic car owners are expected out in force. For Club Triumph Norfolk we organised a route from Caistor St Edmunds, down to Filby Broad, then to Caister on Sea and along the old coast road, through Hemsby, Sea Palling, Waxham, and Happisburgh, lovely winding roads, through pretty villages to the Lighthouse Inn at Walcott for drinks.

Lined up at Caister Hall Hotel.

Start of a Triumph Convoy.

Happy owners relaxing at Walcott.

Less a TR6 at the Lighthouse Inn.

3 Early Rovers.

We then carried on through Bacton, Trimingham, Mundesley, Sidestrand and Overstrand with nice views over the coast, passed through Cromer, then on to Sheringham. Here we parked up and strolled into town for very welcome Fish and Chips and later ice creams.
11 Triumphs turned out on the day, however we lost a TR6 with ignition problems early on. The weather was perfect, sun all day with a slight breeze, perfect for the convertibles. Thanks to all who turned up.
Mirror shot of Triumph Convoy.

All in a good day, no one got lost and only 1 lost to mechanical gremlins.

Along the coast road we saw a convoy of Moggy Minors, a group of MG's and a small group of early Rover's, then whilst heading home spotted various other classic cars in 1's and 2's making the most of Drive it Day.

HCR Coast to Coast 09

This, our first HCR, was a bit manic as a first timer, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We made a big mistake on the first half when we realised we had forgotten Essex after blagging a couple of extra counties, which meant a frustrating drive from Northamptonshire to Essex to get the county and the bonus, unfortunatley this was through a M1 crash, (time lost) and then arriving at Stansted services with little fuel, and the services closed due to fuel dispenser computer failure. We trawled Bishops Stortford for fuel (more time lost) before getting Essex and the Bonus point for Hatfield Forest and then a dash down the M25 for West Berkshire and Oxfordshire. This meant we got to Chievley at 3-30am, after getting lost after Clivedon, and being warned off at Grays Court by an angry man. But with a good first half points total.

Start at Southwold.

A few more starters.

Cheivley Services 3-30am, not the last car though.

We tackled the second half of the event with a fast, fairly straight run to the finish, during which we managed some nominated counties but no bonus points in order to finish at 8am in Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The entry into Wales at sunrise was very welcome after a long night.
At Newport we where given a very good breakfast, before results and finishers plaques where awarded.

Early morning in Wales.

Early morning mist in Wales.

Near the Finish.

Welsh coast of Pembrokeshire in sight.

Newport, Pembrokeshire, finishers parked up.

More finishers.

We had a fantastic run home in the sun, not exactly direct, but after breakfast we felt quite good so thought we would make a leisurely day of it, we left Newport at 10am, and headed up the Welsh coast in glorious weather to Aberystwyth, then took the A44 accross Wales through Llangurid, Rhayader, and Llandrindrod Wells, to Leominster and Worcester, then accross the Chilterns to Milton Keynes, drove some lovely roads amid great scenery, stopped a few times for coffee and snacks, and then back to within 20 miles of the start at Southwold at 6.30pm. Surprisingly we didnt seem to need a kip on the way home!

Welsh Coast near Aberystwyth.

Coffee stop when leaving Wales.

The car ran faultlessy throughout the event, we started with a full tank and filled up with fuel 3 times on the way there and back. Mileage was 572 miles for the event from Southwold to Newport and 950 miles door to door. Thanks to Dale and Brian for organising the event, we will be back next year.

Drive it Day

Last Sunday we did a recce for the Norfolk Area contribution to drive it day, it was a lovely day for hood down motoring along the Norfolk Coast but was quite busy, probably due to the start of School holidays. We had intended to include the Real Ale shop near Holkham Hall, but it was a touch too far for an afternoons run. Hers hoping for good weather on 26th April.

During the week I wired in some driving lights ready for the HCR, this should have been simple, ie: feed from battery, relay trigger from main beam circuit, however the relay would not trigger out, seems like some residual current still goes through wire to relay no matter where I pick up the relay tigger in the main beam circuit or how clean the earth and contacts are. It works OK for some but not for me!

In the end I fed the relay trigger from sidelights and fitted an illuminated switch on a small plate under the Radio/heater console. this is quite easy to reach in practice, just a quick drop of the hand from the steering wheel to turn off. The relay is mounted to a spare hole in the LH of engine bay. The lights look a lttle like overkill alongside the foglights, but are effective, so ok by me.

Other jobs completed in preparation for the HCR where a gearbox oil change, I wimped out on this as access to the filler plug is dire without a pit or ramps and so got Anglian Triumph to do this, they also changed the speedo drive back to suit the 3.09 axle which I had forgot when I swapped the axles over.

I also changed the oil and filter myself, and generally had a good check of hoses, electrics, etc.

Easter Friday and Monday where spent finding clues for the Norfolk Area Treasure Hunt on June 21st, this year I am sticking to one area of a 2.5 miles to the square inch map which I can then copy and give one to every entrant, they can then plan and scribble on these. The hunt for clues around the villages and towns is quite difficult without them all being "samey" but I think we have some good ones this year in a realy pretty area on the Norfolk/Suffolk border with some challenging navigating round small country roads required.